Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-07-15


G. w. Smalley, in despatch to the New
York Tribune, abiding to Mr.. Gladstone's
speech in moving the rejection of the
crimes bill, says ''it was one of those mag
nilicent efforts, now rare, which lift debate
in the House of Commons far above the
region OF party passion. 1t silenced that
phalanX of ministerial supporters who sit
behind the treasury bench, who of recent
times have too often forgotten what is due
to the first of living parliamentarians."
1t has been claimed that the soldiers
exemption act in Massachusetts was
practical annulling of civil service exam
nations. But this turns out to be
hasty conclusion. Under the law of 1884,
all appointments to certain Offices must
be from lists of persons certified by the
civil service commissioners as having
passed the required examination. No re-
peal of this manner of selection is IF fleet
ed in the soldiers exemption bill, and it
therefore appears to be necessary that
heads of departments must continue to re-
ceive their employees through the civil ser
vice commission.
The Judde has been taking a vote among
its readers to settle the question who are
4 the eleven most popular men in the coun-
try. The result is as follows: James G.
Blaine, 119; Phineas 7. Barnum, BPS
Grover Cleveland 76l Roscoe Conkllng,
224 Chauncey NJ. Depew, 265; William
NJ Evarts, POS; David b. Hill, 434; Will
liam Il. Sherman, 49l John sherman,
500 Philip II. Sheridan, 1872; Il. De Witt
Talmage, 404. A vote by any other paper
would probably produce different re-
suit. Puck for instance, would place
Cleveland at the head of the list, and the
New York clipper would give Barnum
the preference. AS many men, so many
minds.
1t seems that the freight rates that were
agreed upon by the committee of railroad
managers under the Interstate com
merce act have not proved satisfactory to
the roads The commissioners have &C
cordingly announced that the roads must
Judge for themselves in each case, and
that, while every complaint will be decid-
ed by the commission, no general rule will
be laid down and the penalty of the law
will not be inflicted for mere errors of
Judgment This gives the roads an oppor-
tunty, if they wish, to settle some doubt
full cases in favor of their customers and
thus stop some of the bitter complaints
about eXorbitant charges
The receiver of the Oregon and California
road asked the United States Circuit Court
in Oregon to decide whether, in competi-
ton with other rail and water routes,
rates may be made for through freight
which shall be less than those for a short
er haul in the same direction. The Court
decides that freight carried to or from a
competitive point is always carried under
| substantially diSSimilar circumstances
and conditions from that carried to or
from non-competitive points; and that
the distinction must have been in con
temptation of Congress in passing the
act"
a Judge of one of our city courts who
has fine farm in New Hampshire, to
which he turns with relief in the vacation
which he has from sentencing criminals
to Deer island remarked the other day
that he believed the best retormatory
training was to be had at the plough tail
or the end of a rake. The open air and
sunshine of the fields, he added, combined
with steady manual labor, lift the mind
above thoughts of such offences as doom
men to imprisonment, and prepare 1t for
the reception of healthful moral infiu-
ences. -BOStOn Post.
This is a very pretty theory, but the fact
is that 1.-THE open air and sunshine" very
commonly fails to lift the average farm
laborer above tine seduction of the intoXi-
eating cup. There are too many farm
laborers who gravitate irresistibly toward
the cooler, when they are in town.
Mr.. Powderly is "sick of his job" and
declares that he will resign at the October
convention of the Knights Of Labor The
other leaders of the association, instead of
trying to dissuade him, seem rather glad
that he is going. One of them says
what is needed after Powderly is gone
is general, a commander of men, lead
er to act on the offensive, not on the de-
fensive, to guide the order right along
and strike the enemy at his weakest
point" The fact is that Mr.. Powderly
is too conservative and too wise to suit
the knights. They want man who will
lead them into trouble by a short cut and
if Mr.. Powderly resigns they will prob
ably get such leader.
Col. Ingersoll's contribution to the
Beecher memorial volume is one of his
, most fragrant offences against both good
taste and truth. Among other things
, lngersoll says that Mr. Beecher's birth
place was "a Puritan penitentiary, Of
which his father was one of the wardens-
a prison with very narrow and closely
| grated windows. Under its walls were
a the rayless, hopeless. and measureles'
dungeons Of the damned, and on its roo
fell the shadow of Gods eternal frown.'
y His home was simply IAN inquisition il
u which babes were tutored for the good o
e their souls, in which "their wills wer,
J. broken or subdued their natures de
y formed and dwarfed, their desires defeat
2, ed or destroyed acknowledgment ARRESTED
d or perverted. Life was robbed of it
e spring, its summer, and aulumn.
a No laughter no sunshine no jOVOuS